Sunday, April 2, 2006

Spring Break!

As of today, I am officially on "vacation".  I stayed up too late last night and fell asleep in my computer chair.  Woke up and retired to the waterbed for what was left of the night, then slept until I woke up naturally this morning.  (9:15!)  Did the SATERN/SAROF nets on HF radio for the rest of the morning, then puttered around the house some.  I wasn't in too big a hurry to accomplish anything.  I'm on vacation, remember?

The only real order of the day was getting the resident dog to the groomer.  I had allowed her to get overgrown, then suddenly noticed that I was finding--how can I put this nicely?--little bits of dog excrement all over the house.  Huh?  On closer inspection, I discovered a huge clump of dried feces on her backside that was preventing her from "going" cleanly.  Ugh!  Fortunately, Petsmart could take her today.  

Meg and I were on the phone earlier in the day.  She suggested that, while the dog was away, "we" should shampoo the carpets.  (They were badly in need of it!  I own a shampooer, but had never used it.  Mostly, the kids did, in their house...because of--guess who?--Frodo the Wonder Dog!)  Thus, the Heffelmans pulled in my drive about 5:30.  Meg and the children went to a McDonald's PlayPlace while I vacuumed the rugs, and Nathan followed behind me with the carpet shampooer.  The kids also visited with Grandpa Phil (Nate's dad--his mom is doing new-grandchild duty in Atlanta).  I was mostly pleased with the way the carpets turned out and had a nice little visit with my grandchildren.  What pleases me the most is that TWO big tasks were accomplished on the first day of vacation:  the dog and the carpets!

Frodo, having been through the trauma of the groomer's, is now sleeping like a dead dog.  Poor princess!  She doesn't look like the same critter at all!

Robin discovered that Grandma Judy was away from home, in Atlanta to help with Baby Jackson, and immediately became concerned that Grandpa was alone.  She didn't like that.  When I reminded her that I live alone and don't mind it, she reminded ME that I have Frodo!  She settled on the fact that Grandpa has Chewy and Graypaws (cats) so he isn't alone either.  She was okay with that. 

I find it interesting that Megan first expressed concern over someone else's feelingswhen she was the same age.  Great-uncle Mac died.  (This would be her Grandma McNary's sister Mary's husband.)  We were Illinois residents at the time but went to Greencastle, Indiana, for the funeral.  We took Meg to the funeral home for the visitation, but arranged for a babysitter for her for the actual funeral.  When I was tucking her into bed after the visitaiton, she asked about what was going to happen the next day.  I told her that she would be with a babysitter while the rest of us went to the funeral.  She said, "Is that when they put him in the ground?"  <Gulp!>  I said yes.  Tears welled up in her eyes:  "Then Aunt Mary will be all alone."  I was totally blindsided!  I didn't know that my 3-year-old had a clue about death, much less aloneness!  I said, "Yes, she will be alone, but she will still have us."  With that, she brightened and smiled, content to think that we could make a difference in dear Aunt Mary's life.  I have never forgotten the moment.  Think of it: age three!  So much learning, so fast!

Tonight, Indiana joins the rest of the country in moving to Daylight Savings Time.  Governor Daniels made a big deal of it in his election campaign, but it almost didn't pass.  For some reason, the state has resisted, successfully, for the last 45 years.  Well...it finally passed, but with consternation about what time zone to be in.  We are so close to the time meridian here, we really need to be in the Central Time Zone in order for daylight hours to be "normal," but each county was allowed to decide for itself what time zone it wanted to be in.  Consequently, SOME counties are in Central, but most of the rest are in Eastern...now Eastern Daylight.  Thus, you will STILL need a compass to figure out what time it is in Indiana!!  In any case, once I go to bed, it will be an hour later than usual when I wake up.  Translation:  the clock says 12:40 AM, but it equates to 1:40 AM.  Time to hit the sack!

 

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